Ahmedabad: Lack of a federal investigation agency could be one of the reasons for the series of blasts across India. Over the past few years intelligence agencies have achieved breakthroughs in penetrating the web of terror, but the sensitive information is rarely shared. Investigations across the country have remained limited to specific agencies.
MiD DAY yesterday reported that the Bangalore blasts were a Red Herring. They were carried out to divert attention so that attacks could be carried out in other places. The Ahmedabad blasts were predictable. Yet no precautions were taken.

Often the Research and Analysis Wing do not share secrets with the Intelligence Bureau or state anti-terrorist squads. In most cases, state intelligence is not informed about developments in neighbouring states. Rarely do agencies meet regularly and exchange findings.

As a result, valuable research or information is limited to isolated groups.

The matter comes to the fore only when the Central Bureau of Investigation sounds a red alert. Or sometimes, officers develop a personal rapport with counterparts in other states and exchange intelligence.

The proposed formation of federal police has been on the anvil for many years. Local police have been opposing it as it might corrode their power.

Take the case of the confessions made by the SIMI chief Safdar Nagori last month. He even named dozens of students from Maharashtra and Karnataka, who had expressed an interest to become terrorists.

The IB has names but nothing has been done to arrest and interrogate them.
Several members of the Bangladeshi Harkat Ul Jihadi Islami (HUJI) have been arrested in the past. Little has been done to infiltrate their network.

HUJI has now become a gang of contract killers of sorts, working without an agenda or anti-India propaganda. Obviously HUJI is trying to corner the lion's share of an estimated $400 million terror bazaar.

The grapevine is ripe with news that al-Qaeda recently recruited 8,000 Jehadis. While 3,000 are from some countries in Central Asia, an estimated 5,000 are from the north-eastern provinces of Pakistan. The pay packet is around $8,000 per month.

Trained HUJI operatives on the other hand could be hired at cheaper rates. That is what Shahid Bilal was supposed to be doing before he was killed last year.

Even if the terrorists are payed Rs 10 crore per blast, three blasts each year could easily fetch them more than Rs 30 crore, a good turnover for a new BPO-like HUJI.

A cursory glance at the sequence of events in the past few years indicate that the web of terror across the sub-continent is governed by pure economics. Blasts at Jaipur could bring a windfall to a place like Panaji or even turn the political balance in favour of a particular minister or political party. Blasts may even help win elections in the future.

The government on the other hand is still following the structures of the 1970s. Research and Analysis Wing's (RAW) annual budget is less than Rs 160 crore. Intelligence Bureau or IB is still used to collect information on rivals at higher levels.

Blasts will continue as long as the formation of the Federal Police in the country remains a distant dream, said an officer from a central intelligence agency.